Hades 2 will be a masterpiece. Anyone who has gone on to play the Early Access, in which I have over 35 hours of playtime at the time of writing will know as much (45 hours by the time I finished writing this). This isn’t breaking new ground, it’s not telling you anything you don’t know. What it is, is me celebrating a game I love – something I really should be doing more of on this channel. The reason I haven’t been, lately, is because it’s easy to talk about games you enjoy, it’s easy to examine games you dislike; but the games that touch a nerve, that become a part of you and stay for the long haul…it’s difficult to open up about those. Here goes.

The House of Hades is not as we left it off a few years ago. A new tenant has moved in, and he’s a crotchety old bastard. The familiar cast of characters known and beloved by a scary amount of people are either in chains, not in the picture or asleep (here’s looking at you, Hypnos, bud). Zagreus is missing, poor lad; that means there’s a new protagonist in hell – his baby sister, Mel! And Melinoë…Melinoë is the best child soldier you’ll ever get to play as.

Trained in witchcraft by the chthonic goddess Hecate, Melinoë has but one simple task: to kill time. Chronos is the arch-villain of this piece, and what a figure and tone he strikes – so much different from eponymous Hades himself in the previous game. I’ll dig deeper there, but a little more on Melinoë first: I felt a sense of profound identification with her, and every run I’ve attempted, whether successful or not, has only deepened this kinship.

Divine Support

Spoilers ahead.

Melinoë has her own expanding cast of supporting characters. Hecate stands tallest among them, in her role of Headmistress and mentor, as well as a somewhat unwitting parent figure (I’m not your mother, Melinoe clip, if possible; if not, another mentor-y scene will do just as well.) Like Meg and Hades himself in the first game, Hecate also serves as the boss encounter of one of the biomes, in particular Erebus, the first biome you will have to pass in your way down to the House of Hades.

Another advisor–one I’ve very much enjoyed–is Odysseus. Wise, wry, and deferential, Odysseus’s relationship with Meli is that of a trusted confidant and loyal ally. He’s also something of a spymaster; and he’s the very first character I took a bath with, which resulted in a hilarious exchange about the very different sensibilities gods have to nudity, compared with the mortals of Odysseus’s time. Odysseus has stories for days and an unsurprising amount of personal history with several of the bosses across the game so far. He may be Nobody to a certain zero-eyed cyclops, but he’s certainly not forgotten the song of Scylla and the Sirens; several exchanges with both bosses and Odysseus make for hilarious and memorable moments both before the boss encounters in question and after Mel’s return to the Crossroads.

Speaking of, the Crossroads make for a decidedly witchy homebase. From the Cauldron to Melinoë’s tent and the magical glades that overlook the path up towards Olympus and down towards Tartarus, the design of this encampment is just marvellous. You’ll find Hypnos in his own little nook, fast asleep, and the ghost Dora (I wonder who she is…) haunting Mel’s tent; there’s a whole support network of shades which you can summon via rituals – the shopkeeper and several accounting shades; there are several different ways to relax with the various members of the support cast. The hot springs I mentioned are one (you’ll need bath salts); another is fishing together (via use of fishing lures); and finally, you can go share the drink of the gods, ambrosia, in the cantina if you grow particularly close to anyone. I’ve only done so with one character thus far, but it was an excellent time.

It’s not just Hecate and Odysseus you get to share drinks with, either. There’s Eris, who will openly work against you and appear as a boss half-way up the wearying road to Olympus. (More on that later). Eris has manic energy, and I have to work hard not to crush on her – something about a girl shooting you with an Adamantine Rail always gets me going. She’s Strife Incarnate, and while she’s working against Melinoë, Eris isn’t working with Chronos. She’s living up to her nature, I suppose, and some of her lines, a number of her exchanges with Mel, they make me think that standing against us might in some twisted way be Eris’s attempt to protect Mel from worse. Or it can just be Eris fooling around – don’t take my words on faith here, we’ll wait and see. Eris is fantastic, catty, and has the energy of a rebellious punk-rocker.

Her sister, Nemesis, is less antagonist and more a classical foil for Mel. That goes both for appearance – Mel is lithe, a sorcerous witch though still possessed by godly power, while Nemesis is what we might elegantly refer to as the big woman (GoT line https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBOff3a7sXw), the latest in a proud tradition that includes such memorable ladies as Lady Dimitrescu–you know what I speak of, you degenerates. What’s more, Nemesis is competition; despite her post as protector of the Crossroads, she’ll disobey Hecate and try to make her way down to Tartarus in order to take on the titan all by her lonesome. In the process, Mel has the chance to tank her hits for rewards, to compete to see who can slay more enemies over a hundred gold’s worth of a wager. There’s more – Nemesis might make way for the chamber whose reward you want or she might have gotten into a chamber you’re heading to first, and cleaned it out already. Nemesis can be frustrating. It’s clear she aims to be; she’s angry at Mel and it’s so easy to get angry right back at her. Beyond those surface-level emotions–or maybe because of them–Nemesis is such a compelling character. Her anger, her lashing out at Meli, they’re not the results of true enmity so much as they are the workings of envy: Nemesis wants to be in Meli’s place, she wants to be the one to take on Chronos. She doesn’t have the divine authority, however; nor whatever it is that allows Melinoë to withstand the more sinister time manipulation abilities the hoary old titan keeps in store for those who get too close. I’ve gotten to a point in my relationship with Nemesis where we have reached a grudging respect for one another, and even shared a bottle of ambrosia. Plenty of room to grow that relationship, still. I love it, though, and it’s not only because Nemesis is the foil to Mel, but also because she’s heavily Lancer-coded. And I love me a good Lancer.

I’ll mention two more allies, both also the children of Night: one is ever-faithful Charon, who has become an absolute beast of a guerrilla smuggler. He’s no longer just a merchant who’s doing a bit of haggling on the down-low for his pal Zag; instead, Mel’s paying him with Chronos’ freshly stamped gold, which he’s melting in a show of the most gigantic middle finger to Chronos. Hardcore anarchism against the economic institution, baybeeee. He’s great, and I just love that Mel has this intrinsic understanding of his grunts; suddenly, we get exactly what he means from her responses, and I adore that to no end. (I might be blanking out on this, but I don’t think Zagreus could understand him the way Mel does?) Charon is a sweetheart – there, I said it, don’t @ me. Unless you’re agreeing, which you can do in the comments below.

A late-comer to the party is Moros, Doom Incarnate, and faithful attendant to the Fates – they have a part to play, too, but I’ll let you discover that one for yourself. Moros is a hunk, and I can definitely see him and Meli hitting it off; he’s wise and kind, and aloof. That last one only makes sense, doesn’t it, with the whole Doom thing? He’s the new kid on the block, and it’s such fun to watch him begin to make a home of the Crossroads. The conversations between the two are sweet, and kind, and an honest effort of two very different gods to connect in some significant way, with each providing comfort in the face of the hurt that the other is going through.

There are more supporting characters – lots more, in fact, but I wished to cover only the more finished ones in-depth; there’s a smattering of others that I won’t even begin to unpack here. The writing continues to be at the very highest of standards, more compelling even than the original. Perhaps one reason above all makes it so.

The Stakes

What works in Melinoë’s favour, and in the sequel’s favour, is that the stakes are so much higher. I’m a literature nerd, so I often think in literary terms about games: the first Hades game has a structure that is part bildungsroman, part hero’s journey*. Consequential as the stakes are, they are much more personal to Zagreus than they are cosmic. The stakes here, in the meanwhile, are just the highest you can imagine: Olympus is besieged, the gods are at the end of their rope, and the future is looking dire indeed. Suddenly, here’s this band of guerrilla witches, a few children of Nyx, and a handful of shades, supporters of the Underworld’s rightful regime, led by a witchy veteran and her godly wisp of a pupil. Sure, she’s newly hatched, but Meli, she’ll surprise everyone – even Chronos himself.

And Chronos – oh man, is he a loathsome figure. Hades 2 does an incredible job of creating animosity between the player and this antagonist from the earliest point on. A shadowy figure first appeared after Meli bests Hekate – with his imperious voice and shadowy portrait, I was convinced that this was none other than the accursed titan himself. The first few appearances are more inquisitive than outright hostile, but Mel is certainly not any slower than I am – her own suspicions are there from the get-go. The curiosity and probing questions of the figure shift to open animosity after Melinoë infiltrates Tartarus and comes face to face with Chronos – and again what a striking figure Time is. He is almost a foil to Hades in the first game. Where the God of the Dead was gruff, a man of few words, violent and harsh but without ever appearing brutal, Chronos strikes a far more sinister note. He is soft-spoken but sly, and prone to fits of rage that are scarier to me than were Hades’s own when I faced him with Zagreus. What helps cement him as a villain even further is that the boss fights with Chronos are so bloody difficult. It’s not just me, either – people on the subreddit are having a hard time. In forty-five hours, I’ve only gotten the best of him five times–five times! By way of comparison, I once had a running score of either 18 or 21 consequent successful runs against Hades as Zagreus; grandpappy is not messing around, y’all. I will note, after the Early Access’s second patch, his attacks are apparently better telegraphed which helps people in the fight. Lack of clarity as to some of his attack animations was certainly an issue at the get go.

You Can Always Count on Family

Melinoë may be destined to delve towards the heart of the Underworld alone, but that doesn’t mean she’s not receiving aid from the family. The Olympian gods are desperate–much as they try not to appear so–and are pulling out all the stops to help their newest extended family member in her one-woman war against Chronos. Alongside many returning gods – Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Demeter, Artemis, Hermes–a gaggle of never-seen-before deities appear. Apollo, Hestia, Hephaestus, Hera herself. Most significant, perhaps, is Selene, who plays an important part in the symbology around Melinoë. Selene, like Melinoë, is a member of the Silver Sisters – all moon-blessed goddesses in one way or another. They’re a shadowy Other to Olympus’s radiant mountaintop, to my mind.

Chaos returns, too, with a portrait that is equal parts fabulous and eldritch fuckery (both are ample reason to love Chaos). One of the funniest bits for me was Chaos expressing clear preference towards Zag as compared to Mel. He’s so nonchalant about it too. The art direction of all these characters is quintessential Supergiant Games; even familiar gods have gotten a significant visual upgrade. Everyone was having a good time during Zag’s struggles; wartime tells a wholly different story for the Olympians.

Well, maybe not for Poseidon, my fellow has peak Australian surfer energy.

I am also seriously worried about Zeus, who once or twice mentioned Mel’s beauty – last thing I need is fighting off that lightning-throwing creep. Especially with the clear strain between him and Hera so evident, you just know he’s the sleaze-bag King of the Gods you have good reason to be wary of.

Olympian Troubles

From early on, it’s clear that Olympus is in trouble. Hardly surprising, then, that Mel’s relatives are calling for her to come join them up on high in the protection of their stronghold. But wasn’t there a good reason for Zag to be unable to withstand spending a long time on the surface of the mortal world? Indeed, indeed – fear not, no one has forgotten this. The work-around is quite elegant, I found.

The path to Olympus is much more under construction than the Underworld; art for the supporting characters that Mel meets is in significantly earlier stages than almost all the characters you’ll meet as you wage war on Chronos across the four zones of the Underworld. The two biomes on the surface are great fun, and so different from what lies beneath: the city of Ephyra has been having some modicum of trouble with the hungry dead, but it’s also a playground that offers you a great deal of freedom in choosing boons and other significant rewards. The level design is guided by different principles. The whole place makes for a breath of fresh air. Similarly with the second biome, which sees Mel traverse an endless fleet of the dead as they sail towards Olympus. I just about fell off my chair when I found out the sea these ships are sailing through is the result of Poseidon getting pissy and doing his earthquake schtick. Man practically helped Chronos along in his plans. Got to respect that level of ineptitude. (All joking aside, he is the god of the seas, and is probably making life hell for these poor zomboys and zomgirls.)

I was thinking of doing an in-depth break-down of the biomes in all their glory, but this script is already overwhelming in its length. Do let me know if you’d like a companion video on this topic, or a look at the boons and weapons – there’s so much to talk about with Hades 2, and I’d happily yap all day long about it.

Supergiant Games Isn’t Messing Around

There’s a way to go yet, of course: the plot has only just begun to develop, in a way. That said, so many other elements of the story–interactions and questlines–are already in place and Supergiant Games has gone on the record to state that the Early Access of the game is bigger than Hades 1 was in its original state, which-wow. Thinking about the Early Access of the first Hades game, I can only admire how far Supergiant has come with this. Beyond the couple of biomes that lead to Olympus, beyond the missing or unfinished art-work of several key and supporting characters, I can think of a few elements I either hope to see or feel are absent: I miss the location map of the first game; I miss Athena and Ares and Dionysus. But I have no doubt that all of them will make a return in the coming content patches – and if gods like Poseidon and Aphrodite are good indicators, when Athena and co. return, they will be all the more deadly. Of course they’ll be back – Olympus is at war, after all, and what better time for both Athena and Ares to shine? And war…well, war runs on drink, let me tell you.

But what I love about Supergiant Games is, only a few weeks after releasing this Early Access they are already delivering balance patches that make the experience better. As Larian did with Baldur’s Gate 3, feedback is heard, evaluated, and acted upon – and in short order.

Patch 2 dropped recently, and it nerfed the game’s most powerful weapon, provided plenty of interesting balance changes, removed various daedalus hammer upgrades for each of the five weapons – so many changes are significant, and change the way the game plays in various ways. To witness it, to be able to take part in shaping the game if you want via feedback, it’s a wonderful way to be an active part of this strange, wonderful community.

What’s more, I cannot describe to you the joy of booting up the game and seeing finished art in the place of placeholder art that has been there for close to forty hours of playtime. When I opened my keepsakes cabinet and finally saw all the brand new art for the keepsakes – that moment, friends, was all too satisfying.

Hades 2 is that rare game that has enchanted me from the first hour, and won’t soon be letting go. Whether you jump into the Early Access or wait for full release sometime next year, this game is a labour of love that will be remembered for a long time, as a masterpiece and more: as a sequel that leaps onto fantastic new heights that not even its predecessor could’ve hoped to reach.